Remastering a Live Linux DVD

Ok, I can't choke my computer, so I had to come here, for maybe possible relief?

We all know about backing up our data. Well, this time, I jumped into the idea. PCLinuxOS has a program to remaster the OS into a live DVD. I thought that I'd try it out, and at the same time could gain a backup that images all my current setups, in a live, installable DVD format.

I did all of this to save my PC in case a disaster would happen. It took 6.5 hours for the image operation to finally end. But I found that the program did not go all out, to also take the steps load (burn) the final product into a DVD. Nor go into instructions to do it right, at that point.

To make sure that I'd have enough room to hold all the data, I chose to use a BD disk. I used a "dd if= of=" to try to transfer the .iso file into the BD platter. I couldn't get the machine to recognise that a platter was sitting in the burner. The entire file was 14GB.

Then I resorted to kick the k3b application on, to see if that would be successful. That's when all he.. broke loose. No luck making that image to transfer to the BD platter. I even tried with an external USB BD burner. No luck! Dusgusted, I decided to lay low for a while. I then found out that the OS no longer was able to launch any applications.

The very action that I did to protect myself against future problems, did me in! I'm writing this, in the machine with the broken OS, using a Live DVD (not of my making). Looks like I'm going to lose a lot of important things in my present setup, by doing a fresh installation. I only wish that I knew which files damaged, needed to be replaced, to save the system. I forgot the error code that came on the screen. And I didn't understand the criptic way it was presented.

I've borked and reinstalled Linux so many times now I just keep a backup of my data on an external hard drive and reinstall the O/S as needed. And I don't use DVDs for anything now. A USB drive can hold 14 GB no problem.

So, I have not touched the bad OS yet. Now, what do I do with the 6.5 hour long 14GB image (or .iso?) that was created? No instruction was offered to go the next steps. All my attempts thus far have been shattered to simply transfer the image to a DVD storage medium. And if I do, I'm not sure if it will be complete and boot-able as with the original. It was not recognized as an ISO file by k3b. Nor as a image file. Which is it?

Can I achieve the same results by using the "dd if= of=" transfer method? I don't believe that I could do it by the most easy thing as simply use a "CP" or "MV" command, could I? Can I transfer the image file as a file, directly to a /dev/sr0, or must it be a file transfer of a file to a file, that represents the physical drive?

I've spent many sleepless hours trying to jiggle different parameters together to see if anything would complete the picture.

A blue ray disk can hold ~25GB. I have 2 burners. One in the computer and another tied to the USB plug. Just found out that, for whatever reason, the BD drive in the laptop can't read anything anymore.

As best that I know, k3b can now handle blue-ray platters. And I assume that the "dd if=" and "of=" are not limited to any known size limit. If you read my initial submission, it was explained above.

I'm here to expand on your experiences on some things that I may not know, or have forgotten, on this topic. I can't tell where I went wrong for the simple fact that all I wanted, was to transfer one image file to another medium. But when it comes necessary to create files to represent different objects and solid storage devices, things can easily get pretty muddled up, tracking which directory/file is located, and location where the mush is supposed to go into.

Ultra-violet light is a real short wavelength, with a very narrow beam. Therefore, more bits can be crammed into a platter with similar size to a regular DVD. On the other end of the light spectrum, infrared, is a longer wave length, which needs to occupy more space on the platter. Don't ask me the light measurement in nano-meters, 'cause I don't remember!

What would be nice now, would be to market a BD platter that's RW instead of just read only. A few xtra burining recycles would be nice to save on money. On a BD, real tight compression would not be as necessary. If only the price would come down on that technology.